Life's Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, totally worn out, shouting "Wow...What a Ride!"

Saturday, December 18, 2021

It's A Wrap!!

 November 26-December 18, 2021

Black Friday weekend ended up being our busiest time this year. We sold about 500 trees, less than last year but more than the 2019 season at Keller. We’ve also been here for 5 weekends, with Christmas coming on a weekend our last day selling was the 19th.

Almost done


Our days rolled on into another, always the same thing, only broken up by outings to Walmart and WinCo occasionally. When we weren't busy tending to the lot I spent a lot of time reading, Dave kept busy with an occasional RV repair. Replacing the door lock since the old one broke, I was inside and Dave outside, the door wouldn’t open but I knew I could get out with the help of a screwdriver. I did have to check out a customer through the window by the dining room table. Thankfully Amazon delivers here and we were able to get a replacement.

A gift from a young customer

Fire ants are common around here, while I got the occasional bite Dave got an arm full of them when he picked up all boughs from our scrap bough pile. His arm was covered in them. 


A week later

The night sky gave us a few shows.  





We enjoyed a few colorful sunsets and cool cloud formations.





To our friends who stopped by, thank you so much, it was so good to see all of you. Forgot to get pictures when Joe and Brenda stopped by or when our friend Greg stopped in :( 

Frank & Pat, us

Us with Pat
This is our last season selling Christmas trees. We appreciate the opportunity to try this gig for a few seasons but I miss the holiday season. Thanks, Ralph and Becky!!   Can't wait to take a ride and see Christmas lights, the go-cart, and boat parades, and just being out and about during the season. Next year we’ll be spending it at our place in Texas.

In the morning we start our drive to AZ, we will be spending a night in Monahans TX, a night at Leesburg Dam SP, then a couple of nights at Rockhound State Park before heading to Picacho Peak State Park where we’ll be for the holidays. Picacho Peak is near where our friends Curt and Glenda have settled after coming off the road. We also have friends in Tucson we want to see and Picacho SP is close to there too. 

12/18 9am 9 trees left, closed at dark 3 trees left

Until next time...

Thursday, November 25, 2021

From The Gulf to The Trees


 October 23 - November 25, 2021
We enjoyed our 3 1/2 weeks on the beach at Gulf Waters Beachfront RV Resort, lots of fishing, projects taken care of, landscaping done and a few weeks spent with our friends Guy and Kelly.




Dave and Pat spent many a day fishing, our freezer is full of fish, shrimp, and some whole Pompano for our friend Mona Liza.





The local shrimp boat had fresh shrimp and of course, Dave had to get one tasting of oysters in.





Our oleanders made it through the big freeze, so no big project just some replacement of hibiscus and added a couple of pygmy palms. Have to make it nice for our friends Chuck and Sally who will be renting our lot this winter.


Friends Guy and Kelly went full time this past summer, in a 2021 Grand Design Solitude. It has been interesting to see the changes since we bought it in 2014. We’ve been in many Grand Designs since then but we haven’t spent any time in the newer models. Some nice changes but we’re still doing good in ours. Guy and Dave worked together for 20 years at IBM, fixing the tools that made the computer chips. It was great to get to know them both better, see y'all in Yuma!!
They taught us Cribbage and Goofy Ball (Ladder Ball) and we of course taught them Dave's game. 




With Guy and Kelly, we finally did something I’ve wanted to do for years, paddle the Lighthouse Lakes Paddling Trail. Note to self, if you come back don’t do this when it’s low tide. We had a fun time but there were a number of real shallow spots.




Of course, no visit to Port Aransas is complete without a stop at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. Sorry Guy, Boots the alligator wasn’t out that day.








The things you see when you take a ride on the beach.

A walk around Goose Island State Park introduced Guy and Kelly to geocaching.
                                                                                    


We saw some whoopers at a nearby pasture.
Of course, then there's the nearby Big Tree!!


And another geocache



We received word we needed to be in Carrollton on 11/18. On 11/15 we headed north and spent a few days in Waco at Airport Park COE. A 376-mile ride, our longest drive all winter, and we arrived at our site, 63. 




The next few days proceeded to be windy “as all get out”. We did some chores, shopping, and laundry, and getting some walking in. 

A try at walking the Waco Riverwalk or Suspension Bridge, the bridge was closed and the downtown side of the riverwalk has construction going on. Oh well, another time. 















On Thursday, 11/18, a 119 uneventful mile ride found us arriving at our Christmas Tree lot in Carrollton TX. There’s been more gravel laid since last year, hopefully, we won’t have too much rain.

We proceeded to set up and found there was no power on at the electric pole. Hopefully, that will be taken care of by midnight, meanwhile, the generator is getting a workout. It eventually took a few days to figure out, thank goodness for the generator.

Once the trees arrive we won’t get the chance for eating out so we found Paparazzi Pizza which was so good. If you find yourself in the area be sure to check them out.



We’ve been busy since arriving, the trees arrived the next day, we got them unwrapped and started selling. I won’t be doing a daily write-up this year, if you want to see what the daily life on a lot is like you can check out the posts from last year. 



We've enjoyed talking with so many folks. The kids who took home our Charlie Brown tree-thanks. Robert and Victor spent part of their Thanksgiving morning with us, great talking with you two, we hope to check out the restaurant recommendation. 

To all of our family, friends, and followers we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and are thankful you all are part of our lives.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, it should be one of our busiest days. The weekend should be crazy too. Needless to say we won't be doing much more than work, eat and sleep for 3 days.

Until next time...
Happy Thanksgiving!!!